Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Above, is a recently submitted photo to RaystownRay.com. A creature can be seen breaking the surface. The photograph was taken close to the dam. "We could see something in the distance that kept coming to the surface. As we got closer, it looked to be at least 20 ft. long. It surfaced about 6-7 times and we were able to get one good photo."

NOTE: I have been in recent contact with George LaVanish at RaystownRay.com in reference to the sighting from August 2009 (posted below). As well, a producer from SyFy contacted me for information on the sighting. Supposedly, there will be a new paranormal series starting on SyFy and the Raystown Ray sightings are going to be part of the production. If you have any information on this cryptid, please contact RaystownRay.com or send to me to forward...Lon______________________Originally posted 9/1/09

'Monster' Sighting - Raystown Lake, PA - 8/29/09

(Raystown Lake, PA)

I received the following email today (original...typos removed). Full name and other identification held back by request:

"I was referred to you by a friend. Can you advise or direct me to someone who can explain what I witnessed?

On August 29, 2009, I was fishing from a boat with my son on Raystown Lake, Pa. It was around 6:45 pm and we were making our way back to the landing. We were near the Snydertown portion of the lake where there is a point of land.

As we were heading south, I looked toward the west shore after my son started to point at something. I really have NO idea what this thing was but it looked like a large, thick black snake with a huge head that bobbed in and out of the water. I moved a little bit closer but my son was getting scared, so I cut the motor and looked through my binoculars. The body was moving in coils or humps up and down in the water. The creature had no fins like a fish and the head was diamond shaped. The weirdest feature was that the eyes (which were dark, somewhat small and slanted) were not set on the side of the head...but placed forward. I got an excellent look through the binoculars (I'd say it was about 50 yards from us) when it raised up, it's head moved side to side. It made no sound. I'd say it was at least 20 feet long.

I have lived in Altoona, Pa for only a few years and this is only the second time I have fished this lake. I'm from Wisconsin and have fished many large lakes and rivers but I have never seen anything this big.

We watched for about 2-3 minutes until it slipped under the surface. My son's description was very similar to mine but he said he noticed lighter colored 'whiskers' or rays on the chin and face while looking through the binoculars. I had tried to take a photo with my cell phone but it just blended in with the water and was not discernible.

My son found an image on the internet that closely resembled what we witnessed (attached). This is nuts! My friends think we saw a large fish or mammal, but there is no way it's either. Please give me some guidance or resources to help identify this. I am skeptical of monsters, ghosts, ufo's, etc. and don't buy into much of what people describe on TV. But, now that I have seen something that I can't explain....let's say I'm confused and frustrated." Thanks...Bill

NOTE: I used to fish this very lake years ago (excellent striped bass fishing!). I knew that there were some reports of a 'monster' sighted there a while back but have not heard anything lately. Anyway, Raystown Lake is a very deep water man-made lake located in Huntingdon County, Pa., east of Altoona, Pa. and south of State College, Pa. I emailed back to the witness 'Bill'...he seems to be very sincere about this sighting. He stated that he reported it to another paranormal site but didn't get a response...Lon

UPDATE: I had a few questions for 'Bill' so I sent him an email asking him to attach the photos he took with his cellphone. I wanted to see for myself what he meant by 'but it just blended in with the water and was not discernible'. He forwarded 2 photos which I examined. Since he and his son were on the same level as the creature there was a dark background of the trees as well as some glare coming off the water. I tried to enhance the photos, but there was just nothing with any definition though I could make out some disturbance on the surface of the water. There wasn't much more information that he could offer...but I certainly believe he and his son witnessed something unusual...Lon

Above - photo from the past showing a shadowy creature. What is believed to be Ray captured in older photos shows a dark figure just below the surface.

I found a video and a few images from 2006. This creature is referred to as 'Raystown Ray'. Honestly, I never gave these sightings much consideration but may look into this further now that a supposed witness has come forward to me.

SIGHTINGMay 14, 2006 (John)While night fishing on the lake May 14, 2006 at around 2:00 am,I noticed something large and dark slowly appear in the waterapproximately 40 yards away. It was very slowly moving throughthe water. I asked my friend if he could determine what it was.The visible portion was approximately 8 - 12 feet in length. Aftershining a Surefire flashlight at it, it submerged. There were nonoticeable features such as a head or humps.

SIGHTINGJune 20, 2006 (Walter G.) I Was enjoying a morning of fishing on20 June 2006 right straight across from 7 points marina. The sunwas starting to make the morning come to life and the fish werestarting to jump. It was about 6am and I seen what I thought was afish, maybe a musky, come out of the water and grab a stick. Thestick was about 3 or 4 feet long, and the "fish" was out of the wateras far as the stick was long, not showing the tail end. When I camehome I told my wife what I had seen and said that it looked like alarge leg coming out of the water and garbing the stick. I joked andsaid that I would have liked to seen the rest of it. Today is 8 July2006 and my son told my about Ray and I look up the web site,which I never heard of till today. Now I think that maybe I didn'tneed to see the rest, but could it have been? Sighting June 16,2006 (Lee, Lea & Family) On the last day of our vacation atRaystown Lake, June 16th , we woke up early in the morning to seewhat we believe is Raystown Ray. The figure was moving about 100yards behind our boat while we were tied off at Panther Cove. Itslowly made it's way across the cove behind Marty's Island anddisappeared into a small inlet. What a great way to end a great vacation!

SIGHTINGWhen: July of 1994. John R. Pendel Pittsburgh, PAWhere: 20 minute cruise from the camp grounds area at RaystownLake. (only been to the lake once -not sure if there's more than 1campground) Sighting It was approximately 9AM in the morningand a friend of mine invited me and my wife as well as his in-lawsfor a quick morning ride on the calm lake. It was a nice warmmorning cruising around 20 knots. Me and my wife were on thestern of the boat, his wife and her parents were on the bow.While my friend was navigating the boat, he turned around andwere having an idle chat drinking coffee and about 20-25 minutesinto our ride the three of us glanced off the port side of the boatand all at the same time seen ripples in the water, a long darksomewhat shiny black object that surfaced to the top of the water,then it seemed to spin and turn over and then submersed anddisappeared. He immediately shut down the boat in amazement,the 3 of us asked each other, "did you see that?" His wife and herparents were asking what was a matter and we were speechless.The size of the object was at least 10 to 12 feet long putting intoperspective we were riding on a 19 foot open bow boat.The object was approximately 40 to 50 feet away. Never-the-less wefinished our cruise and reported our findings to the rest of thegroup we were camping with and obviously no one believed us. Tothis day we still talk about what we saw and we still get harassedabout the "fish story". A friend of mine sent me this link today thusthe reason for just reporting it now. Now we have proof to ourdoubting Thomas friends that others have seen what we seen thatday. John R. Pendel Pittsburgh, PA

SIGHTINGAugust 3 2008 Mike SieberI heard about this Raystown Ray a few years ago and thought itwas just a hoax to get more people to the lake. But after SundayAugust 3rd I'm not so sure that he doesn't exist. It was 7:15 PMand we just loaded the jet skis and started to dry them off. Mygirlfriend jokingly said "Look, Its Raystown Ray"! I looked to seewhat she was talking about and saw a neck and a headsticking about 3 to 4 feet out of the water and it was striding towarda boat that was coming into the no wake zone at the 7 Points.We watched it for about 3 minutes. We saw a wake in the waterfrom its neck and about 15 to 20 feet behind that wake wasanother wake, but we couldnt see what was causing that wake.It disappeared the closer it got to the boat. My mom, dad,girlfriend and I all saw this thing. If it wasn't Raystown Ray,I would like to know what it was!

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